Protective garment



Oct. 28, 1958 R. M. WALLACE PROTECTIVE GARMENT Filed Dec. 15, 1955 Rdche/ M. Wallace IN V EN TOR.

Ann-gs Fig.5

United States Patent Ofi ice 2,857,599 Patented Oct. 28, 1958 This invention generally relates to a garment and more specifically provides a garment especially designed to be worn over the shoulders of an adult when taking care of an infant.

When young babies are fed, they consume mostly liquids and it is a general practice that after the baby has completed the feeding, the baby is lifted in an upright position against the shoulder and patted gently on the back to relieve the baby of air or gas. This is generally referred to as burping or bubbling a baby. During this burping it frequently occurs that some of the food or liquid which has been consumed will be regurgitated and would normally be disposed on the shoulder of the garments worn by the person holding the baby since the hands of the person holding the baby are normally busy and it is impossible to hold a towel or napkin to avoid soiling of the garment of the person holding the baby. Accordingly, it is the primary object of the present invention to provide a protective garment for positioning over the shoulders and extending downwardly therefrom for protection of the shoulders of the person holding the baby when the baby is being burped.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a protective garment in accordance with the preceding object which includes an upwardly opening trough at the lower edge thereof throughout the extent of the garment to form a pocket for retaining any of the liquid material which may run downwardly on the outer surface of the protective garment, thereby preventing soiling of the floor or adjacent areas by the regurgitated liquid.

Other important objects of the invention will reside in its simplicity of construction, ease of assembly, adaptation for its particular purposes and its relatively inexpensive manufacturing cost.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

Figure 1 is a front View of the protective garment of the present invention positioned on a wearer;

Figure 2 is a rear view of the garment on the wearer;

Figure 3 is a plan view of the garment in its disassembled position;

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken substantially upon a plane passing along section line 44 of Figure 2 illustrating the construction of the rear trough or pocket; and,

Figure 5 is a detailed sectional view taken substantially upon a plane passing along section line 55 of Figure 3 illustrating the construction of the front pockets or troughs. I

Referring now specifically to the drawings, the numeral generally designates the protective garment of the present invention adapted to be positioned over the shoulder area 12 of an adult or parent 14 so that the arms 18 are free for movement and the head 20 as well as the neck 22 project upwardly therefrom wherein the garment 10 will not hinder the normal movement of the appendages of the adult-14.

The protective garment 10 includes a generally elongated polygonal body portion shaped configuration including a base portionand diverging leg portions. and having an enlarged central opening 26 centrally disposed therein for encircling the neck 22. A longitudinal entrance slit 28 is provided-in communication with the edge of the central opening 26 and the free end 30 of the body portion 24 thereby dividing the free 24 of substantially Y- end portion into two equalsegments. The other free end a 32 is continuous and is adapted to be positioned over the reariof the shoulders 12 of the adult 14 while the seeiional free ends 30 are positioned forwardly of the adult portion of a snap'fastener 34 for engagement with each other thereby retaining the opening 26 in encircling relation to the neck 22 of the adult 14 for retaining the garment 10 in assembled relation for protecting the shoulders 12. The central side edges of the body portion 24 are outwardly curved as designated by the numeral 36 wherein this central side portion 36 will overhang the upper end of the arm 18 thereby giving an outwardly flared appearance and protecting the entire body of the adult 14.

At the free end 32 is provided a generally rectangular flap of double thickness designated by the numeral 38 which is divided and reversely bent at its lower end as designated by the numeral 40 wherein one thickness is disposed on one side of the body portion 24 and one thickness is disposed on the other side thereof and is secured thereto by stitching 42 which extends along the bottom edge and the side edges of the flap 38. The upper edge of the flap 38 is provided with semi-circular portions 44 which is generally scalloped so that the flap 38 will normally be disposed in spaced relation to the body portion 24.

At each of the free sectioned ends 30 is provided a flap 46 which is inturned at the edges thereof for disposition behind the edges of the main body portion 24 formed by the side edges and the edges of the slit 28 and this reverse bend is indicated by the numeral 48 and is secured to the body portion 24 by stitching 50. Also, stitching 52 may be provided for dividing the body portion 24 into several pieces for assembly and construction.

The device may be constructed out of terry cloth or other similar materials rendering the device relatively inexpensive and economically feasible. It will be seen that the troughs or pockets formed by the flaps 46 and 38 will effectively form a receptacle for any liquid draining downwardly along the outer surface of the garment 10 and the garment 10 will effectively protect the shoulder area 12 of the adult 14 when burping an infant.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling Within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

A protective garment for completely covering the shoulder region of a person burping an infant after feeding, said garment comprising an enlarged body of sheet material of generally Y-shaped configuration and including a base portion with a pair of leg portions extending therefrom in divergent relation, the juncture between the base portion and the inner edges of the leg portions defining an enlarged opening for receiving the neck of a wearer, the diverging inner edges of the leg portions forming an At the corner of each edge of the entrance slit'2 8is a the end edge of the'base portion beinggenerally equal to the combinedlength-of the end edges of th e leg lportions,

the-base portion andleg portion havinga widthfand length for substantially completely covering the shoulders andadjacentregions of the back andfchest for protecting the clothes'of-the wearer when burping an infant, a pocket extending completely across the outer end edge of the base portion, a pocket; extending com pletely across the outer end edge of'each leg portion, eachiof said pockets being disposed on the outer surface of'the body of sheet 15 2,378,380

material and having the bottom and two side edges secured to the corresponding end and side edges of the body of sheet material, the free upper edge ofeach pocket being slightly longer than the bottom edge whereby the upper edge of each pocket may be disposed in spaced 1 relation to the body of sheet material thereby catching any liquid discharged from the mouth of an infant being burped while being held against the shoulder region of the wearer, the central portion of the side edges of the 1 body of sheet material being convexly curved outwardly for providing an outwardly extending flare projecting outwardly from the shoulder region for overhanging the 10 upper portion of the arm of the wearer.

References Cited inthe file of-this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Brown June 19, 1945 2,499,689 Sossamon Mar. 7, 1950 2,674,739 

